The field of this invention is that of sockets for use in mounting and connecting electrical components such as integrated circuit (IC) chips in electrical circuits, and the invention relates more particularly to such sockets for mounting IC chips in test circuits during burn-in testing of the chips.
Integrated circuit chips are commonly mounted in sockets on a printed circuit board and are connected in an electrical test circuit on the board. The board is then disposed in an oven or furnace where the chip is tested in the circuit under the furnace temperature conditions. A variety of different types of sockets have been used for this purpose. One recently developed socket as shown in commonly assigned application for U.S. patent Ser. No. 421,220 filed Oct. 13, 1989, permits an IC chip to be easily installed in the socket for testing by movement of a reciprocating member and permits the test to be automated. However, it is sometimes found that the electrical contacts used in the recently developed sockets have relatively large arm-like shapes which can be subject to vibration and can tend to act as antenna. The arm sizes also tend to result in the sockets being less compact than would be desired so that fewer sockets can be accommodated on a circuit board or accommodated in a furnace during testing.